And marauder is continually castigated for pointing this out! Enough of barla being unfit, the whole concept of the community board is unfit nd undemocratic, how on earth can you have a ncl official on it as a neutral! The game is committing suicide by a thousand cuts!

The worst things BARLA done in all of this is to remove Stuart Prior as there representative on the community board, consensus seems to be that the game lacks leadership at both BARLA and CB level hopefully that can be sorted out before its too late

I'm big enough to take it, If I was on the BARLA committee I'd be looking at some of the summer ideas from the none heartlands and taking them on board for the winter season, I'm a big fan of Tim2 and many of his ideas which border on the BARLA ethos.

Cheers Jim! I don't have much direct experience of BARLA other than when I asked them about starting up a summer Merit league they sent me to the RFL.

The amateur game needs a strong voice and for whatever reason BARLA lost the mandate to provide it. Many of the people I have met who are now working in the summer based leagues are ex-BARLA and simply got sick of the politics. Without that voice the pro game and the performance department could (and have shown the inclination to) ride roughshod over the amateur game without thought of the consequences.

Whatever ethos I have, it doesn't involve endless committees and rules, although I do understand why some of the BARLA rules, which seem to be obscure and a "barrier" to people doing what they want, came into being.

I am a big fan of playing junior rugby in the summer for all the obvious reasons. We at my club have been doing it for 5 years now and it can work, but I can see how managing the transition at Youth and Open Age is far more complicated. It's just a shame that views have become so polarised that everyone now seems to have blinkers on.

Its not about summer/ winter its about getting the playing season right March to November is clearly not working for the majority of the game , but we have no one in the game at the top brave enough to admit it . And the result will be devastating in the Long run putting all your eggs in one basket was not the best call .

Its not about summer/ winter its about getting the playing season right March to November is clearly not working for the majority of the game , but we have no one in the game at the top brave enough to admit it . And the result will be devastating in the Long run putting all your eggs in one basket was not the best call .

So come on that MAN step forward and be brave ,

Could we have an "i,m sparticus " moment , i doubt it .

It was reported at the Hull youth/junior meeting that the number of teams registered this year is the lowest for 25 years.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

I don't know what its like in the rest of the country, but up here in Cumbria the local league organisers are dong everyting they can to try and rebuild the game from the bottom upwards. They have taken their heads out of the sand and accept that peoples perception of the game, their social habits and player demands are changing and they are actively working towards finding solutions to problems rather than blame the switch to summer, wet winters, cheap pints or play stations or anything else people want to blame.

Does anyone seriously think that a switch back to winter will cure the game of its ills overnight. We need to run with the summer comp for the next five years to give it a realistic chance of succeeding, and that means allowing the next generation of younger players the chance to make up their own minds rather than have some 45 year old seasoned prop telling them it was better in the old days!

Gilly from Seaton is a regular contributor on here and I'm sure he will post to tell you the type of ideas that are being thrown about up here as he is more involved in the management side, the important thing is to talk to clubs and get feed back, and in Cumbria they seem to enjoy doing this and taking constructive critisism on board without spitting the dummy out.

I don't know what its like in the rest of the country, but up here in Cumbria the local league organisers are dong everyting they can to try and rebuild the game from the bottom upwards. They have taken their heads out of the sand and accept that peoples perception of the game, their social habits and player demands are changing and they are actively working towards finding solutions to problems rather than blame the switch to summer, wet winters, cheap pints or play stations or anything else people want to blame.

Does anyone seriously think that a switch back to winter will cure the game of its ills overnight. We need to run with the summer comp for the next five years to give it a realistic chance of succeeding, and that means allowing the next generation of younger players the chance to make up their own minds rather than have some 45 year old seasoned prop telling them it was better in the old days!

Gilly from Seaton is a regular contributor on here and I'm sure he will post to tell you the type of ideas that are being thrown about up here as he is more involved in the management side, the important thing is to talk to clubs and get feed back, and in Cumbria they seem to enjoy doing this and taking constructive critisism on board without spitting the dummy out.

I don't know what its like in the rest of the country, but up here in Cumbria the local league organisers are dong everyting they can to try and rebuild the game from the bottom upwards. They have taken their heads out of the sand and accept that peoples perception of the game, their social habits and player demands are changing and they are actively working towards finding solutions to problems rather than blame the switch to summer, wet winters, cheap pints or play stations or anything else people want to blame.

Does anyone seriously think that a switch back to winter will cure the game of its ills overnight. We need to run with the summer comp for the next five years to give it a realistic chance of succeeding, and that means allowing the next generation of younger players the chance to make up their own minds rather than have some 45 year old seasoned prop telling them it was better in the old days!

Gilly from Seaton is a regular contributor on here and I'm sure he will post to tell you the type of ideas that are being thrown about up here as he is more involved in the management side, the important thing is to talk to clubs and get feed back, and in Cumbria they seem to enjoy doing this and taking constructive critisism on board without spitting the dummy out.

In Cumbria we have had the option of playing Friday or Saturday as a preferred matchday, the league have reverted back to 14:30pm kick offs after listening to the clubs, Split the BARLA cumbria cup so that the lower league teams instead play in a plate competition that is regionalised until the semi final stages, have scheduled in free weekends for teams when requested, Put proposals to clubs for voting on with regards new league formats, and Instigated the Cumbria mens league to create divisions that give people an equal level of competition every week

Its fair to say as a club secretary that I have never been as satisfied with how CARLA has been ran as I am now we are constantly asked for feedback get news bulletins weekly and it feels like were all pulling together to improve the game in the county. Paul Williamson and his management commitee are pulling out all the stops

In Cumbria we have had the option of playing Friday or Saturday as a preferred matchday, the league have reverted back to 14:30pm kick offs after listening to the clubs, Split the BARLA cumbria cup so that the lower league teams instead play in a plate competition that is regionalised until the semi final stages, have scheduled in free weekends for teams when requested, Put proposals to clubs for voting on with regards new league formats, and Instigated the Cumbria mens league to create divisions that give people an equal level of competition every week

Its fair to say as a club secretary that I have never been as satisfied with how CARLA has been ran as I am now we are constantly asked for feedback get news bulletins weekly and it feels like were all pulling together to improve the game in the county. Paul Williamson and his management commitee are pulling out all the stops

Communication.............That is whats been missing for a long time within the association along with a different look at how things can be run.

I personally would like to see just one cup and one continuation cup within a district, the reason is simply because during our time in the Yorkshire league, we fell foul of teams from districts with a shed load of cups to play in where never available for league games because of the old rule where cup games get priorit.y

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.